For many Christians, this week brings Ash Wednesday, a solemn day of fasting and reflection.

Israeli producer Dana Eden, best known for co-creating the Emmy-winning drama “Tehran,” has died suddenly in Greece.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama has clarified comments he made about alien life on a podcast over the weekend.

Iran's top diplomat has held talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Geneva a day before a second round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

Marco Rubio is backing Viktor Orbán ahead of Hungary’s April election during a visit to Budapest.

More than a decade before he became the country’s first president, George Washington was leading a critical campaign in the early days of the American Revolution.

A man accused of killing 15 people in a mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach has appeared in court for the first time since his release from the hospital.

Singapore is piloting the world’s first sustainable aviation fuel levy.

India is hosting a major AI summit in New Delhi this week, as it pushes to shape global rules and show its own AI ambitions.

Asian markets are mixed ahead of Lunar New Year holidays.

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar is launching his election campaign and says he can return Hungary to a stronger European path.

President Donald Trump says that members of his newly created Board of Peace have pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding Gaza and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory.

Israel is beginning a land registration process in the occupied West Bank that critics say can shift large areas into state control.

Iranian state media reports that Iran’s top diplomat is traveling to Geneva where the second round of nuclear negotiations with the U.S. will take place.

The U.S. military says it's boarded another sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean.

A top European Union official has rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.

A Ukrainian drone attack hit a Russian Black Sea port as diplomats prepare for fresh U.S.-brokered peace talks.

Nasser Hospital in Gaza has condemned the decision by Doctors Without Borders to suspend most work at the facility due to concerns over armed men in the compound.

Larry the cat is marking 15 years as Britain’s Chief Mouser at 10 Downing Street, a symbol of stability in turbulent political times.

The idea of taking more than a two-week vacation from work to recover from burnout or rethink life is slowly gaining supporters in the United States.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry says Iran and the United States will hold a second round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program this week.

With Brazil entering the joyous throes of Carnival, Alpine ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen has given it another reason to celebrate: an Olympic gold medal at the Winter Games.

Dozens of dogs dressed as alligators, fairies and superheroes have gathered at a Rio de Janeiro Carnival street party as their owners protested cruelty against pets.

The U.S. military is reporting a series of strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria.

Doctors Without Borders says it has suspended some operations at one of Gaza's largest functioning hospitals after patients and staff said they witnessed armed, masked men in parts of the compound.

Bangladesh’s incoming leader says he will work to build a more democratic country, overcoming challenges related to weak institutions.

Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly played up hosting the head of the Nobel Peace Prize committee in invitations to and chats with elites like Richard Branson, Larry Summers and Steve Bannon, the Epstein files show.

Five European countries say Russia poisoned Alexei Navalny with a rare toxin linked to poison dart frogs.

About 250,000 people have demonstrated against Iran’s government on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders in Germany.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has offered a reassuring message to America’s allies.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked his international allies for their support but suggested there was still questions remaining over the future security guarantees for his country.

In Nigeria's capital, a rock musician is taking to the streets with roses and a guitar to remind people to slow down and feel the love ahead of Valentine's Day.

A month after Iran launched a crackdown on nationwide protests, widespread arrests are roiling the country.

The U.S. military says it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

A federal judge says the U.S. government has to bring a Babson College freshman back after officials deported her to Honduras.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken his anti-Trump routine to Europe.

The Trump administration is urging other nations to press a tiny Pacific island country to withdraw a United Nations draft resolution supporting strong action to prevent climate change, including reparations for damage caused by any nation that fails to take actiom.

A top Bolivian official says the United States has resumed intelligence coordination on counternarcotics efforts with Bolivia under its new president.

Dozens of U.S. lawmakers were trying to make their way this weekend to the Munich Security Conference to assure allies of America's reliability.

The U.S. women’s curling team was surprised to learn that their defeat of Canada marked an Olympic first.

Lindsey Vonn says she will have another surgery on her broken left leg Saturday at the Italian hospital treating her “and then I can potentially leave and go back home.”.

Rio de Janeiro has kicked off Carnival celebrations as the mayor hands the city key to King Momo for a playful five-day reign.

Ilia Malinin crashed out of the Olympic figure skating podium after a disastrous free skate and Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan takes a shocking gold medal.

Alexander Skarsgård plays a biker who begins a dom-sub relationship with a younger, more inexperienced man in “Pillion.”.

Cocoa prices have fallen nearly 70% since last Valentine’s Day, but that won’t make heart-shaped boxes of chocolate or even chocolate Easter bunnies more affordable this year.

Norwegian biathlete Strula Holm Laegreid won his second bronze medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics — three days after making an unexpected personal confession during a post-race interview.

The first solar eclipse of the year is almost here, but very few people will see it.

The Trump administration spent at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to a report compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Envoys from Russia and Ukraine are to meet for a new round of U.S.-brokered talks in Geneva next week as both sides keep fighting and trading long-range strikes.

Fears are rising of the outbreak of another war that could spread into a regional conflict in the Middle East as U.S. President Donald Trump raises the pressure on on Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Dubai has replaced the longtime head of DP World after emails linked him to Jeffrey Epstein.

A new AP-NORC poll finds that Trump's recent push to seize control of Greenland is divisive even within his own party.

China is getting ready to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and the festivities will include robots.

Britain’s High Court has ruled that the government’s decision to outlawed the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has lost his bid to overturn an Olympic disqualification tied to a planned helmet tribute.

Indonesia is training troops for a new peacekeeping force in Gaza, backing a key part of President Donald Trump’s postwar plan.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called on the U_S_ and Europe to “repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together.”.

New Zealand's Court of Appeal has finished hearing an appeal from the Christchurch mosque gunman, in proceedings that were quiet and tightly controlled.

Preparations for the 2026 World Cup in Mexico City are cutting into the livelihoods of sex workers and street vendors near Azteca Stadium.

President Trump used a Fort Bragg appearance on Friday to praise U.S. Special Forces for last month's raid that removed Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. stocks steadied after an encouraging update on inflation helped calm a Wall Street that’s been wracked by worries about how AI may upend the business world.

President Donald Trump says a change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen” as the U.S. administration weighs whether to take military action against Tehran.

The Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City was hit by an Israeli strike during the war with Hamas.

Zimbabweans are embracing inventive expressions of romance shaped by economic realities as Valentine’s Day approaches.

Thailand has begun using a birth control vaccine on elephants in the wild to try curb a growing problem where human and animal populations encroach on each other.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has claimed victory in the country’s first election since the 2024 uprising, positioning itself to form the next government and potentially reshape Bangladesh’s political landscape after years of intense rivalry and disputed polls.

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says it was “sensible” for a South Korean official to express regret for alleged civilian drone flights over North Korea but warned of counterattacks if they recur.

The U.N. General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to approve a 40-member global scientific panel on the impacts and risks of artificial intelligence, with the United States strongly objecting.

Financial groups in Canada and the UK have paused new projects with DP World after emails show its CEO had a long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic says it is now valued at $380 billion.

Taiwan has reached a trade deal with the United States that cuts almost all of its tariff barriers.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to make arrangements to allow some of the Venezuelan migrants flown to a notorious prison in El Salvador to return to the U.

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that a U.S. Marine and his wife will keep an Afghan orphan they brought home in defiance of the U.S. government’s decision to reunite her with her Afghan family.

Puerto Rico’s governor has signed a bill that amends a law to recognize a fetus as a human being.

Prosecutors are investigating the European Commission’s sale of 23 office buildings to Belgium two years ago.

Two films at the Berlin Film Festival use romance to show life beyond war and politics.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych pushed at the limits of the International Olympic Committee’s rules on freedom of expression, and the global sports body pushed back.

Venezuela’s ruling party lawmakers have debated an amnesty bill that could free hundreds of people held for political reasons.

A federal judge has used part of a court hearing to read email and social media death threats she received following her ruling blocking the Trump administration from ending temporary immigration protections for Haitians in the U.S. Judge Ana Reyes in Washington recently blocked the termination of temporary protected status for Haitians while a lawsuit challenging the Republican administration’s effort to end it proceeds.

President Donald Trump has invited Latin American leaders to take part in a summit in Florida next month, gathering the officials at a moment when the administration is spotlighting what it sees as concerning Chinese influence in the region.

The U.S. military has reported two major incidents that occurred in recent days tied to the massive buildup of forces in the Caribbean Sea.

Authorities say Cyclone Gezani killed at least 36 people, injured more than 370 and destroyed almost 18,000 homes in a 24-hour spell of destruction across Madagascar.

The families of the victims of the mass shooting in a remote Canadian town are grappling with unrelenting grief as details emerge about those killed in the country’s deadliest mass shooting in years.

Hong Kong's CK Hutchison say it's escalating its fight over the two Panama Canal ports that it operates.

A U.S. judge says President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC can go to trial in 2027.

It was a day marked by a comeback and controversy at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The Vatican has warned a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group that it risked renewed schism if it goes ahead with plans to consecrate new bishops without papal consent.

Mexico has sent two navy ships with humanitarian aid to Cuba as tighter U.S. pressure worsens the island’s energy crisis.

An Albanian actor is asking the government to stop using her face and voice for its “AI minister” without clear consent.

India’s defense ministry says a government panel has cleared a major step toward buying more Rafale fighter jets and P-8I maritime patrol aircraft.

The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressive move by the president to roll back climate regulations.

UNICEF says that the recruitment of children by armed groups in Haiti tripled last year as poverty and violence deepens across the troubled Caribbean country.

Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire co-owner of Manchester United, has apologized after saying Britain has been “colonized” by immigrants.

Two Israelis have been charged with using classified military information to place bets on how future events will unfold.

Syrian government forces have taken over the al-Tanf base in eastern Syria, a site the U.S. military has run for years.

European allies at NATO are brushing aside concerns that the United States has stepped back from its leadership role at the alliance.

Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities again overnight as Ukraine accuses Russia of dragging its feet on new U.S.-brokered peace talks.

Russia has attempted to fully block WhatsApp as it tightens control of online communication and pushes people toward a state-backed alternative.

A broad coalition of unions and farmers in India has held a one-day national strike against an interim trade deal with the United States.

Japanese technology and telecoms giant SoftBank Group reports it swung back to profitability in the last quarter of 2025 as its investments in OpenAI and other ventures paid off.